Health & Science

60 Minutes Overtime

60 Minutes: Segment Extras

60 Minutes: Segment Extras

How 60 Minutes helped inspire “Unforgettable" crime show

Producers and actors of the CBS crime show "Unforgettable" talk about the 60 Minutes story that helped inspire their show

2014Jan 12

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Three
years ago, Lesley Stahl’s first story about “memory wizards,” people
who remember almost every day of their lives in graphic detail, aired on
the 60 Minutes broadcast. The Monday
after the story aired, phones were ringing off the hook at the offices
of the California-based scientists who study HSAM (Highly Superior
Autobiographical Memory). Nearby, phones were also ringing in the office
of two Hollywood producers.

Ed Redlich and John Bellucci had written a pilot for a CBS show called “Unforgettable”
about a female cop with a superior memory. Their script had essentially
been shelved by the network after trouble casting the lead role, and
the producers feared that their project was losing steam. Redlich and
Bellucci say they wrote the pilot for “Unforgettable”
before the 60 Minutes piece aired, but the 60 Minutes story was the
spark they needed to launch the show. “It energized the network and it
certainly energized us,” says Redlich.

Soon,
actress Poppy Montgomery was cast in the lead role of “Carrie,” and CBS
debuted the show the following year. In the above video player,
Redlich, Bellucci and actress Poppy Montgomery take 60 Minutes
behind-the-scenes on the set of “Unforgettable.”

“Unforgettable” is expected to return for a third season this summer on CBS.

Sarah Huisenga contributed to the reporting of this 60 Minutes Overtime feature.

Credit: Footage from the CBS program “Unforgettable” courtesy of Sony Pictures Television